Play In A Time Of Crisis Webinar

2025-04-02T23:50:48+00:00

At the start of February 2021, we were thrilled to be invited to present our work at the International Play Association’s Play in a Time of Crisis Award webinar series, which showcased projects all over the world that have supported children’s right to play during the pandemic. What we shared During the webinar, we spoke about the generosity, joy and limitless creativity we witnessed during Big Porridge & Play Online 2020. As our actor-pedagogues guided families through our Lickety Playcard games, amazing group story improvisation, dressing up and reflective drawing, we saw children break out of lockdown monotony and grow in confidence, becoming a tight-knit group, ready for anything. This was also reflected in the wonderful feedback from children and parents.   We regularly remind our Children & Families Network that “in our imaginations we can be anyone, go anywhere and do anything” - and this was the basis for the huge, and increasingly amazing, group improvisation activities, using Flying Balloons and the clear favourite, Magic Ball. As well as the sheer, thrilling enjoyment of playing together, we saw our participants gain vital life skills such as the pleasure of reciprocity in play, how to respect and listen to others, how to interact confidently with their peers and grown-ups, and the realisation that all we need to [...]

Play In A Time Of Crisis Webinar2025-04-02T23:50:48+00:00

Lickety Mums!

2022-07-13T11:48:50+00:00

Wednesday 10th March 2021 The first first block of Lickety Mums sessions started on International Women’s Day! 💃 It was a joy to come together with some of the Mums we see at our Porridge & Play sessions for a Mum-centred hour of discussion, skill sharing and good vibes! We started off stretching to I am Woman by Helen Reddy and danced our way out to Respect by Aretha Franklin! In the middle we did an introduction to the 5 Digital Rights and introduced couple of resources for developing digital literacy as a family. The Net Aware website for digital safety lets you search for Apps and learn about safety rating and how to make them even safer. Their tips for parents are also well worth a look. We also had a quick peek at Google's Internet Legends games and videos, which we'll come back to next time. Shona and Ruby were joined by Dr Soumi Dey, a Mum and specialist in children's emotional literacy, who'll be coming back to deliver a presentation at a future Lickety Mums Session. We can't wait to see you all again next time! Block One Schedule 1. Monday 8th March, 7-8pm 2. Monday 22nd March, 7-8pm 3. Monday 5th April, 7-8pm 4. Monday 19th April, 7-8pm 5. Monday 3rd May, 7-8pm The sessions are currently full but please [...]

Lickety Mums!2022-07-13T11:48:50+00:00

Storyplay City Week 5

2021-03-11T12:32:20+00:00

Welcome to the Porridge & Play Online blog Storyplay City edition, where we share the stories of all the adventures we've had during our virtual play sessions on Zoom! Get in touch to find out how to join. How do we move when we’re stuck in mud? Or, if the ground is covered in ice? How do we move if our legs turn to jelly? Or if everything is slowed down? How do we move when we want to use our bodies to communicate something instead of using words? This week’s session was all about MOVEMENT. We all have different and wonderful bodies that can move in all sorts of ways, and in this week’s sessions we explored how we can use movement to communicate and express all sorts of ideas and feelings. Saturday 20 February 2021 Deep in ghosty park, in ghosty town, we must walk slowly on the sticky soft ground! If a ghost comes along…. Hide under a towel! We met a ghost, in the Magic Ball, but Abdal saved the day with his knowledge of ghosty langauge! ’PAINT’ means hello in ghosty town! And ‘CABBAGE’ is ghost language for we mean no harm, we just want to leave! So we shouted ‘PAINT' and ‘CABBAGE’ out loud, but it turned out the ghost [...]

Storyplay City Week 52021-03-11T12:32:20+00:00

Storyplay City Week 4

2021-03-11T12:32:07+00:00

Welcome to the Porridge & Play Online blog Storyplay City edition, where we share the stories of all the adventures we've had during our virtual play sessions on Zoom! Get in touch to find out how to join. What brilliant Rhyming Writers you all are! This week’s session was all about RHYME, and with inspiration from our rhyming Mary Mac, Three Craws and the Big as a Bear warm up, we all dressed up and made fantastic rhymes of our own! These rhymes then turned into STORIES...read them below! Saturday 13th February 2021 Don’t fear...we’re here! The Magic Ball took us far, far away To a king’s castle where a princess lay 'I am trapped in here because I can’t rhyme And I want to get out And I have little time!’ "Don’t fear, we're here! You're already rhyming, can you not see?" We will give you more rhymes And we will set you free! A flower took a shower in the cold and frosty tower, And three stars had a little bar. There are wee little fishes that will grant you wishes and Wizzah The Lizard that dances in a blizzard! Three superheroes that are faster than arrows, a mouse in a house, a cat on a mat, three pigeons on a pig [...]

Storyplay City Week 42021-03-11T12:32:07+00:00

Storyplay City Week 3

2021-03-11T12:32:50+00:00

Welcome to the Porridge & Play Online blog Storyplay City edition, where we share the stories of all the adventures we've had during our virtual play sessions on Zoom! Get in touch to find out how to join. With Lobster McLobster & Flippity the Clownfish! Welcome to the 2021 Sea Creatures & Monsters Convention! This year we have the most exciting mix of misfits and characters you have ever imagined! This week was all about building CHARACTERS, and what fantastic characters we met at the Seawater Conventions of our three Storyplay City Groups! Thursday 4th February 2021 We love to dance! We love to sing! We're a cool gang Please let us in! Meet Norman The Nar Whale & The Queen of Octopus! And here are Piri Piranha who adores eating worms with her pals Phil The Octopus who is famous for his love of frogs and Big Fish Jessica who cannot stop eating ice-cream! The Deep-Sea Diver Dude is here too accompanied by his best pal The Sea Monkey and we saw a troupe of dancing Sharks arriving earlier too. What a fascinating group they are! Look out for Red Whale, The Incredible Half Human Half Octopus Emma, the beautiful and sometimes scary Underwater Butterfly, The Swimming Mermaid and Mr. Starfish! And...do you know the Funky Fish? Well, she’s here as well with The Fast Seahorse, The Stinging Jellyfish, The Funny [...]

Storyplay City Week 32021-03-11T12:32:50+00:00

Storyplay City Week 2 – Amy & Adie

2021-03-11T12:32:28+00:00

Welcome to the Porridge & Play Online blog Storyplay City edition, where we share the stories of all the adventures we've had during our virtual play sessions on Zoom! Get in touch to find out how to join. Scots Song & Kpanlogo Rhythms! What an exciting second week...Singing in Scots and Ga, making kitchen drum-kits and dancing!! Burns Night celebrations are known all around the world and at Licketyspit we thought that we should celebrate it bringing together Scottish cultures old & new! With support from BEMIS, we were very lucky to be joined by Amy Geddes and Adie Baako. They combined Scots song with Ghanaian Kpanlogo drumming and dancing for a session like no other. Our beats were so irresistible that even the littlest ones like Sam and Daniel and Fatima and Faith had to join in! Read the blog below for a reminder of the song word, how to make a kitchen drumkit & more! 🎻 📦 At the start of the session, Amy showed us how to make kitchen drum-kits using cardboard boxes and some wooden spoons, and shakers by filling a jar half full with pasta or rice! It just shows, you can make a kitchen drum-kit out of almost anything! 🥁 Adie then taught us some Ghanaian Kpanlogo drum rhythms. A Kpanglogo is a big drum from Ghana. 🗣️ Amy told us that Scots is a very old [...]

Storyplay City Week 2 – Amy & Adie2021-03-11T12:32:28+00:00

Storyplay City Week 1 – New Years Cake Recipe

2021-07-02T09:48:40+00:00

Welcome to the Porridge & Play Online blog Storyplay City edition, where we share the stories of all the adventures we've had during our virtual play sessions on Zoom! Get in touch to find out how to join. Welcome back!! Porridge & Play Online is back but from Jan-March 2021 it's running as part of Storyplay City - a new project funded by Glasgow Council, with support from Bemis and the Scottish Government. One of the reasons why we are very excited about this new block of Porridge & Play sessions is that this time round we are going to be playing with families who have been taking part for quite some time now, which means that we can explore new horizons and find out what other wonderful ideas we all have inside us ready to come out through play. We will still warm up and dance, draw and share our art, play our Lickety Playcard games, but we are also going to dive into stories and burst out of them! Find out where we go each week in our blogs. Wednesday 20th January 2021 On Wednesday we were joined by 16 families! We jumped around with Joe in the Button Factory, met Nuo Xuan’s Secret Bunny and Muiz’s Funky Cat! We had a lovely stretch as part of our dancing warm up and got grooving to some [...]

Storyplay City Week 1 – New Years Cake Recipe2021-07-02T09:48:40+00:00

Storyplay City Launch

2021-03-11T12:33:20+00:00

Licketyspit wants to spark a children’s rights-based play revolution! The Glasgow Community and National Lottery Community Funds have let us make a start. This is just the beginning! Everyone can join. There is a big imaginary play train going round Glasgow and everyone can jump on board! What is Storyplay City? Everyone, of all ages, loves to play! We need to play! Play is at the essence of being human. When we play imaginatively with other people there are no limits and no mistakes, just endless possibilities. Licketyspit and our children, families and colleagues have got a recipe and a list of ingredients that make imaginary play an easy, wonderful and inclusive part of every day. We call this Storyplay. Licketyspit has been developing Storyplay with Glasgow families for over 15 years. From LicketyLeap sessions in nurseries to Storyplay Schools programmes in primaries, to Porridge & Play in the community and Picnic & Play in museums and parks. Now, the Glasgow Community Fund is supporting us to build on our work to make Glasgow the first Storyplay City! We all need what children need Children know that the most important things in life are love, kindness, fairness, respect. Playing with children liberates adults to remember this! You can let your hair down and feel at home even with strangers! Storyplay is a celebration [...]

Storyplay City Launch2021-03-11T12:33:20+00:00

Happy Holidays! A Festive Final Week

2021-03-11T12:25:00+00:00

Welcome to the Big Porridge & Play Online blog, where we share the stories of all the adventures we've had during our virtual play sessions on Zoom! See below for details of how to join. Saturday 🎁 What a brilliant final session! We played the PRESENT GAME where one present can transform into lots of wonderful things!! Kamila & Saif turned their present into a Christmas tree and gave it to Muhammed who turned it into a candy cane who gave it to Muizza who turned it into a magic snow tree  who gave it to Tobi who transformed it into a MAGIC BALL... 🐧 We landed in the North Pole and immediately got attacked by hundreds of snowballs thrown by the huge Snowman Monster! Adesire spoke to him in snow language but he wouldn’t stop throwing them - so we all threw snowballs back and ran away!! We found an igloo to take shelter in and on the way in we came across a sleeping polar bear! We gently reached out our hands and stroked it. The polar bear made satisfied snoring sounds and it slept peacefully! In the igloo we met Betty Clause who handed out mince pies and cocoa! ☕️Fatou’s mince pie tasted of mushrooms and cinnamon and ginger and Modou's had a meatball inside!    Then Betty told us that all of the reindeer had escaped! Oh no!! Luckily Amanda [...]

Happy Holidays! A Festive Final Week2021-03-11T12:25:00+00:00

Feeling the love as Big Porridge & Play 2020 draws to a close

2021-07-02T09:41:55+00:00

Welcome to the Big Porridge & Play Online blog, where we share the stories of all the adventures we've had during our virtual play sessions on Zoom! See below for details of how to join. Saturday What a brilliant session we had on Saturday with 30 families!! The sessions are so full of excitement and generosity and feels like one big family! We began with BIG AS A BEAR, our great warm up! Gyan told us that the warm up is important because it makes everyone feel comfortable and welcomed, which is so true! 👍 In FUNKY CHICKEN we met 10 hilarious animals! - Junior's Funky Cat 🐱 - Adila & Muhammed's Ninja Horse 🐴 - Janaiba's & Ramtoulah's Angry Lion 🦁 - Adesire's Funny Butterfly 🦋 - Adeola's Funky Cat 🐈 - Simmi's Funky Chicken 🐓 - Modou's Angry Horse 🐴 - Queen & Faly's Slivering Snake 🐍 - Princess’s Crying Puppy 🐶 - Michris’s Baby Polar-bear 🐻 We then dressed up wonderfully for a very special occasion... to write and send A LETTER TO OUR LOVES!! And how beautiful we all looked! Everyone wrote fantastic letters! Islam wrote her letter to her bed. 🛏 Donald wrote to pizza 🍕 ! Lawand wrote a letter to his squirrel 🐿 ! Ramtoulah wrote to her best friend! Yumna wrote to her mum, dad and pet fish! 🐠 Meerab [...]

Feeling the love as Big Porridge & Play 2020 draws to a close2021-07-02T09:41:55+00:00

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